1. Field of the Invention
The present invention, in general, relates to drawing blood and, more particularly, to drawing blood from children.
No one likes to have blood drawn from their body for use in testing. The skin must be pierced to access human blood, and pain is an inherent side effect arising whenever the skin is punctured or otherwise penetrated.
Adults understand the necessity of such a procedure and its potential for benefit and, therefore, make an attempt to endure the discomfort. Nevertheless, many adults find the experience quite uncomfortable, even so.
However, for children, any attempt to draw blood can be especially difficult to accomplish. For most blood-draw procedures involving younger children a finger is pricked and then squeezed to force a sufficient quantity of blood to the surface for capture and testing.
While this method is generally preferred for several reasons over the procedures that are used with adults, it is often still a traumatic experience for most children.
Their reactions are governed by instinctual responses to the experiences they are having. When a finger is punctured, the resultant pain causes the child to tighten their fingers in a fist. This is instinctual, and it happens virtually all of the time.
A lab assistant, medical assistant, phlebotomist, nurse, LVN, medical student or intern, lab technician (lab technician is generally used hereinafter to refer to any person that is drawing blood), or any other person who is drawing the blood must then force the fist open, in particular, the finger that has been punctured. The child is using all of his or her strength to prevent this from happening.
The ensuing struggle heightens the drama of the moment. The child may be crying or screaming in protest as the lab technician attempts to force open the hand.
The squeezing of the fist by the child combined with the pressure exerted by the lab technician is likely to force additional blood out from the puncture that was made. This blood is likely to be smeared on the hands of both child and lab technician, rather than available for collection.
The visible blood adds even more trauma and drama to the moment which makes the child want to close his or her hand all the more.
After the lab technician has forced open the punctured digit, the lab technician must then apply additional pressure to the digit (finger) to express therefrom the required amount of blood for the test.
This act is also painful, and the child will again attempt to close his or her hand.
The lab technician must then apply the expressed blood to whatever test device is being used or otherwise collect it. This is profoundly difficult to do because the child is constantly crying, screaming, attempting to jerk the hand away from the lab technician, and most of all forcibly attempting to make a fist and deny access to the punctured finger.
The blood-draw procedure for children is especially difficult, and many are the lab technicians who avoid doing so or admit of their own inadequacy at drawing blood from children. The few who seem to prevail more often than not at the task are generally regarded as “wonder workers” by their peers. These peers are only too happy to give the title to someone else because perhaps, a primary intention of theirs is actually to delegate the task itself to the “wonder worker.”
It is apparent that the child, at times, is traumatized by the procedure of drawing blood.
When a lab technician is unsuccessful, that technician finds someone else to assist in drawing the blood. The lab technician assigned to draw blood usually does the job, but they call for assistance from co-workers to assist with holding the child's hand to gain access to the fingers to finish the procedure.
In addition to the emotional factors involved, the process of extracting blood (i.e., doing a blood-draw) from a child is almost always quite time-consuming.
It takes time to open the finger after the child forces it closed. It takes time to quiet and calm the child and to express the blood.
Also, if the attempt fails and must be repeated, that adds considerably to the time involved. This makes the drawing of blood from children costly because of the cost of labor. That cost is proportional to the time required, and a lot of time is required when drawing blood from children.
Furthermore, when repeated attempts are required, additional sterilized lancets (to puncture the finger) and sterilizing swabs are also required. This increases the cost of the equipment that is used, as well.
Because of the challenges as mentioned above, only highly-skilled lab technicians are able to draw blood from children.
Also, as mentioned above, it is typically necessary to squeeze the finger to express (i.e., to force) a sufficient quantity of blood from the puncture (lancing) that was made.
This, too, is somewhat traumatic for the child. They do not like the localized pressure of the lab technician squeezing their finger because this action increases the discomfort (pain) that the child is experiencing.
The step of squeezing the finger to express a quantity of blood therefrom is also fraught with difficulty.
Usually, a single lab-technician cannot simultaneously do it all when drawing blood from children. He (or she) cannot hold the finger open against the resistance and jerking by the child, lance it, squeeze it to express blood from the puncture, apply a test strip to the blood or otherwise collect the blood, and then bandage the puncture. Therefore, the additional services of an assistant (or the wonder worker) are usually also required by the lab-technician. This essentially doubles the required amount of labor which substantially increases the cost of drawing blood from children.
Accordingly, there exists today a need for a blood-draw finger restraint that helps ameliorate the above-mentioned problems and difficulties.
Clearly, such an apparatus would be a useful, cost-effective and desirable device.
2. Description of Prior Art
In general, various types of blood drawing apparatus are known. While the structural arrangements of the above described and known devices may have, at first appearance, certain similarities with the present invention, they differ in material respects. These differences, which will be described in more detail hereinafter, are essential for the effective use of the invention and which admit of the advantages that are not available with the prior devices.